COVID-19 & ONTARIO FAMILY LAW – NEW CHALLENGES, NEW SOLUTIONS

• INTRODUCTION
• CUSTODY, ACCESS, PARENTING TIME
• CHILD & SPOUSAL SUPPORT
• NOTICES RE CLOSURES AND RESTRICTED ACCESS TO ONTARIO FAMILY COURTS

INTRODUCTION

FROM GENE C. COLMAN: The current virus crisis has presented extraordinary challenges to separated parents and their lawyers. This predicament requires that we all use common sense and try to work cooperatively to craft solutions that prioritize children’s needs. Unfortunately, some parents might not be able to be sensible and that’s why it is important to have an Ontario family law lawyer who is sensitive but proactive when dealing with COVID-19 custody-access parenting time issues (and even child and spousal support issues). Here are some resources that parents will hopefully find useful:

CUSTODY, ACCESS, PARENTING TIME

• Gene C. Colman blog post, 16 March 2020: COVID-19 and how to navigate parenting schedules in the crisis
• Steps to Justice is an Ontario organization supported by multiple reputable organizations. They have put together a page with some of the commonly asked questions during this virus crisis. Here is their family law page. This is well worth a look.
• From my colleague, Annette Burns, an Arizona lawyer and former president of the Association of Family & Conciliation Courts
  • CoVID and Co-Parenting: Stick with the Plan, Be Flexible When You Can, by Annette Burns on March 17, 2020
  • Separated Parents and CoVID, by Annette Burns on March 15, 2020
• From the Ontario chapter of the AFCC, in conjunction with the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, here we have some excellent common sense guidelines to share with parents and lawyers. Seven Guidelines for Parents Who Are Divorced/Separated and Sharing Parenting Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• My esteemed colleague, Gary Joseph, has some very good advice for lawyers during the current crisis. 20 March 2020
• Westlaw publishes an outstanding Newsletter each Tuesday morning for Canadian lawyers. It’s called This Week in Family Law. This newsletter alone is worth the subscription price to the Westlaw family law module. The editors are veteran lawyers from the premier family law firm, Epstein, Cole in Toronto. Here is what editors, Aaron Franks and Michael Zalev had to say on 23 March 2020.
• Here’s a nice little pamphlet to share with your kids: Corona Virus Info for Young Children
• Legal Aid in Queensland, Australia has some helpful tips for parents.
• Some American jurisdictions have issued directives that court orders are to be obeyed during the crisis. Colman says that while court orders do need to be obeyed, the extraordinary circumstances that we face now should encourage parents to be flexible. There is no effective court remedy right now to challenge parental decisions. That places a huge responsibility upon decision makers to be certain that their decisions will withstand critical scrutiny once the courts are back up and running.
• Here is a blog post out of Australia that urges common sense and reasonableness. It’s nicely organized and concise.
• And here is a short article from CBC news that contains tidbits with which many parents will surely identify.
• On 20 March 2020, the National Post published a similar type of article to the CBC item.
• Here is a March 28th CBC article from British Columbia that represents the issues that many parents are currently experiencing.
• The New York Times (21 March 2020) published this very upbeat, encouraging and inspiring article about a co-parent mom who overcame her anxieties and was able to constructively co-parent with her ex. This is well worth a read.

CHILD & SPOUSAL SUPPORT

• COVID-19 AND CHILD SUPPORT IN ONTARIO – GENE C. COLMAN BLOG POST (7 May 2020)

NOTICES RE CLOSURES AND RESTRICTED ACCESS TO ONTARIO FAMILY COURTS

Which Court?: In Ontario, Family Law cases may be heard in the Ontario Court of Justice, in the Superior Court of Justice, or in the Unified Family Court where such courts exist (the U.F.C. is at the Superior Court of Justice level). Locations of unified courts can be found here. First you need to know where your case should be, especially if you believe that you have a truly emergency matter. You don’t want to end up going to the wrong court. We found a website that has consolidated the links to all Notices to the Profession and other practice notes for courts across Canada. Click here for the Ontario link. Lawyers and self reps must familiarize themselves with the divergent requirements in each court. Court closure solutions?: Here are a few ideas that lawyers (yes, lay people too) can use to try to overcome blockages caused by court closures:

1. Engage the other lawyer proactively, respectfully and constructively.
2. Try to solutionize with the other lawyer together rather than just bombastically threaten.
3. Provide authoritative information re health risks and how they can be minimized when dealing with children transferring residences.
4. Where health risks mandate keeping the children in one location, if you act for that parent ensure that the other parent has ample face time via computer, smart phone, etc. Enumerate with the other side the privacy ground rules for such contact. It would be a good idea to have the parents sign on to such ground rules.
5. Where the other lawyer will not work cooperatively, propose solutions in writing. You are creating a written record. There will ultimately be a day of reckoning.
6. Show how a private justice solution will bring peace of mind to both parents. In other words, use Mediation, Mediation/Arbitration (“Med Arb”), Arbitration.
7. Where the support payor has become unemployed, try to work together to have limited funds meet the needs of the children as much as possible.

LINKS TO OUR POPULAR 2 APRIL 2020 WEBINAR:

COVID – 19: (S)HE WON’T (RETURN) (SEND) THE KIDS. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

• THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
• THE WEBINAR RECORDING

COVID-19 FAMILY COURT CASES

  CASE THAT DID NOT ADDRESS URGENCY ISSUE DIRECTLY 6 March 2020, Justice S.B. Sherr, Toronto Ont. O.C.J., at paragraph 84: S.A. v. Y.M., 2020 ONCJ 147, [2020] O.J. No. 1161 [The judge excludes from father’s time extra March Break time on account of Covid-19.]